Page 36 of The Vipers and Their Vendetta

Her eyes pop open at his turn of phrase. “Justthe reason?”

“We made an easy scapegoat,” Saint growls.

She lets out a breath that comes from deep within her lungs and covers her face with her hands. “Fuck. I don’t know what I’m supposed to think. None of this is easy for me. I know you all think I’ve come from this crazy background, and maybe I have, but my dad sheltered me, too. I’ve never even lived away fromhome before, and now I have to deal with dead sisters and crazy men in the woods, and being obsessed with you three?—”

She seems to realize what she’s just said and clamps a hand over her mouth.

“I mean, not obsessed in a good way. Very badly obsessed.” That doesn’t come out as sounding any better and she cringes. “I just think about you a lot, that’s all.”

Her face is beautifully flushed, and it’s clear she’s wishing the ground would open up and swallow her. I want to glance over at the twins, see if their reaction to what she’s just said is the same as mine, but I don’t want to take my eyes off her pretty face.

“Hang on a second,” Lex says suddenly. “Does this mean you believe us when we say we had nothing to do with what happened?”

Her gaze flicks to the ground and she scuffs her foot against the cobbles. “God, I don’t know…I’m not sure what to think right now.”

He points at her. “You want us to believe your story, no questions asked, but you won’t believe ours?”

“I just need some time?—”

But Lex is on a roll, and now he directs his questions at us. “How the fuck do we know she’s telling the truth? That she’s Reagan’s sister? They look nothing like each other. That could all be a cover story. We have nothing to say she hasn’t been planted here by Jarl Olsen, just like we thought. She could still be here so he gets his revenge. All we have is her word.”

“She was my half-sister,” Vani insists, “and I’ve never even met Jarl Olsen, and I hope I never do.”

“Lex,” Saint says, “genetics are strange things. Plenty of people who are related don’t look the same.”

Lex throws a strange smile at his brother. “Unlike us, right?”

Saint shakes his head. “We’re twins. It’s not the same, and you know it.”

“I’m not lying!” she says.

“How come you get to say you’re not lying, and we just believe you, but when we say it, you call bullshit? Somehow, this doesn’t feel like a fair exchange.”

There’s a distinct lack of trust between us, and that’s bad. The atmosphere has grown chilly between us.

I sign to Lex.Maybe we all need to take a breather.

But he shakes his head. “No, wait a minute. Think about it. Why is it one rule for us, and another for her? She says she came here looking for her sister, but she never even mentioned Reagan’s name to us.” He refocuses his attention on Vani. “You never asked us anything about her. Hell, you didn’t tell us the truth either, even when we caught you sneaking around and stealing files and spying on people.”

“I had to find out what happened to her,” she says. “She was family, and I’ve barely got any. It’s just been me and my dad, but you wouldn’t understand. You’ve got Saint. Then to find out she’s dead and … and you…” She seems to choke on the words, as though she can’t get them out.

Lex’s eyes harden. “So you say.”

I exchange a glance with Saint, wondering if he’s going to get control of his brother, but Lex has a point, doesn’t he? Why should we believe her, just because she says this is her story? Are we being blindsided by those big brown eyes, and those huge tits, and her curvy hips? If she was more like her sister, would we be having this conversation right now, or would we just be saying ‘fuck her’ and stay the hell out of her way?

How much is our desire to get our dicks wet clouding our judgement?

Except it’s not only about sex, is it?

When I’m with her, I’m no longer fixated on my future and how I’m going to spend it without a voice. The anger I’m constantly battling quells for those few minutes or even hours.She doesn’t look at me with horror or pity or disgust. For the most part, all I see is desire. She wants me, as I am. Voice or no voice.

But what if what Lex is saying is true? What if she is a plant, sent here by Jarl Olsen? How dangerous would it be to let her into our lives any further?

Not that we did anything wrong. That’s the most frustrating part of it. Anger toward those stupid girls who fed Vani lies rises inside me. It’s as though they’ve sunk their hooks into Vani and are now doing everything they can to poison her against us. Why can’t she see that they’re influencing how she thinks? If Vani had never met them, we wouldn’t be in this position now.

I grit my teeth and write down what I’m thinking.You need to stay away from Angelica and her friends.

Vani reads it and raises her eyebrows. “Why do you think you get to tell me who to be friends with? Isn’t that classic abusive behavior? Lie and isolate and intimidate?”

---